Thursday, February 24, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
What to Expect When You’re Digitizing: A Primer for the Solo Digital Librarian
What to Expect When You’re Digitizing: A Primer for the Solo Digital Librarianby Jane Monson
With creativity, flexibility, and a willingness to reach out for help, you can be well on your way to launching your digital collections within a year—even if you are a ‘lone wolf’ digital librarian. Starting a digitization program can be a daunting prospect for any library, whether it is of the large, well-funded variety or the small, shoestring-budget kind. The former may have the luxury of costly commercial software, dedicated programmers, and multiple librarians of various specializations, all of which can smooth the process. But what if these things are out of your reach? What if you are a “lone wolf” digital librarian—project manager, collection developer, metadata creator, and web designer, all rolled into one—with a limited budget to boot? You may fear you are doomed to spend years toiling away with little to show for yourself. However, with creativity, flexibility, and a willingness to reach out for help, you can be well on your way to launching your digital collections within a year—despite unforeseen roadblocks that you may encounter along the way.
My own experience as a new librarian has centered upon grappling with these issues. In graduate school, I had the opportunity to work in the digital services department of a library within a major academic research institution. There I received mentoring from a team of librarians experienced in digitization and was able to get my feet wet planning and executing projects for the school’s already-established digital library. This afforded me an excellent, if rather one-sided, view of the digital library world. Upon graduation, I accepted a position as digital projects librarian at Truman State University, a small public liberal arts university in Kirksville, Mo. I was tasked with kick-starting the library’s digitization efforts, beginning with the creation of an online repository of unique and rare materials from Special Collections. While well-prepared in theory, I slowly began to feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the task and unexpected obstacles that I encountered. As the project’s completion was pushed further into the future, it sometimes seemed as if it might never get off the ground.
One year later, the digital library is still under development. But significant progress has been made, and the light at the end of the tunnel is clearly visible. What seemed like major hurdles turned out to be surmountable and resulted in learning lessons that may be helpful for other librarians who find themselves in a similar position, whether or not they have previous experience with digitization.
Lesson 1: Accept Your Limitations -
Keep reading - this is a great article to discover what is really needed for digitization.
With creativity, flexibility, and a willingness to reach out for help, you can be well on your way to launching your digital collections within a year—even if you are a ‘lone wolf’ digital librarian. Starting a digitization program can be a daunting prospect for any library, whether it is of the large, well-funded variety or the small, shoestring-budget kind. The former may have the luxury of costly commercial software, dedicated programmers, and multiple librarians of various specializations, all of which can smooth the process. But what if these things are out of your reach? What if you are a “lone wolf” digital librarian—project manager, collection developer, metadata creator, and web designer, all rolled into one—with a limited budget to boot? You may fear you are doomed to spend years toiling away with little to show for yourself. However, with creativity, flexibility, and a willingness to reach out for help, you can be well on your way to launching your digital collections within a year—despite unforeseen roadblocks that you may encounter along the way.
My own experience as a new librarian has centered upon grappling with these issues. In graduate school, I had the opportunity to work in the digital services department of a library within a major academic research institution. There I received mentoring from a team of librarians experienced in digitization and was able to get my feet wet planning and executing projects for the school’s already-established digital library. This afforded me an excellent, if rather one-sided, view of the digital library world. Upon graduation, I accepted a position as digital projects librarian at Truman State University, a small public liberal arts university in Kirksville, Mo. I was tasked with kick-starting the library’s digitization efforts, beginning with the creation of an online repository of unique and rare materials from Special Collections. While well-prepared in theory, I slowly began to feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the task and unexpected obstacles that I encountered. As the project’s completion was pushed further into the future, it sometimes seemed as if it might never get off the ground.
One year later, the digital library is still under development. But significant progress has been made, and the light at the end of the tunnel is clearly visible. What seemed like major hurdles turned out to be surmountable and resulted in learning lessons that may be helpful for other librarians who find themselves in a similar position, whether or not they have previous experience with digitization.
Lesson 1: Accept Your Limitations -
Keep reading - this is a great article to discover what is really needed for digitization.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Big new Bedford library is called a bridge between old and new | Northeast Tarrant | New...
Big new Bedford library is called a bridge between old and new | Northeast Tarrant | New...
I have been to this library - it is fantastic! If you are in the neighborhood - check it out!
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Schedule for Library Supporters Conference
The 3rd Annual North Texas Conference for Library Supporters is less than two weeks away!
The schedule - plus business cards of our sponsors, exhibitors and some of the session leaders -can be viewed at http://www.librarysupportersnetwork.com/agenda.html.
The committee chose to change the format up this year. We've got a keynote session, a lunch program and a closing session. Between each of those 1-hour programs will be 1-hour break-out sessions. Naturally, there'll be plenty of time and encouragement for networking with one another and with the exhibitors while enjoying the tasty refreshments made by the Decatur Civic Center's on-site chef!
We're grateful for SYNG grant funding which has enabled us to develop and offer this collection of programs sure to appeal to library supporters.
Keynote Address: Attracting Media Attention
Jeff Crilley, Emmy-Award Winning TV Reporter & Founder of Real News Public Relations
Jeff Crilley, Emmy-Award Winning TV Reporter & Founder of Real News Public Relations
Mark Twain Murder Mystery Lunch featuring Alan Kitty as Mark Twain
Closing Session:
- How Secure Is Your Library’s Future? An Overview of Current & Coming Challenges
BREAK-OUT SESSIONS:
- Helping Your Community Library When State Funding Is Being Reconsidered
Panel of Library Directors - Everything & then some…Organizing & Operating a 501(c)(3)
Rebecca M. DaVee, CPA - Libraries & the Law: How (& When) to Keep the Records, Doors & Books Open
Cory D. Halliburton, JD - Support Groups: Advantages, Benefits, Gains
Kay Parker Clark
- Creating Effective, Balanced Boards
Cecil Carter
- Champagne Accounting on a Beer Budget
Walter Hatter, CPA - Tips from the Perspectives of City & County Administrators & Elected Officials
Panel - Recruiting, Retaining & Renovating Friends Groups
Linda Couser Barnette
Monday, February 07, 2011
Enfield incident contra to what is happening at libraries - Courant.com
This is an interesting article about censoring movies at the library.........
Thursday, February 03, 2011
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